Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
15, April 15,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
The
common market in Bangalore,
India burnt last year,
torching a third of the 480
shops. Reconstruction by
the local government
remains uncertain,
especially regarding the
market's critical
reconnection to
electricity. Yet the
members of the Russell
Market Vendor's Association
have made a decision: the
only thing not in short
supply is the waste they
all continually spew
forth.
Of the 12 tonnes per day
they create, over half is
wet slop they can turn into
power through anaerobic
digestion for biogas to
fuel engines. They also
noted that it was
particularly important to
do something, quickly,
about the fish
waste...
In
Thailand, one company
intends to commission ten
new plants this year,
converting mostly chicken
guts and wash water to make
heat, power and fertilizer.
In Nepal, the Big Event is
the 2013 Waste to Energy
Bazaar, tuning rural folk
in to the wonders of local,
waste-fed renewable heat
and power. In Hawaii,
they'll now convert the
culls from the papaya
harvest to fuel and animal
feed, tonnage classically
created and disposed
because a "marketable
papaya" must be far, far
more than simply ripe and
edible.
The point
is that Humans are not
going to stop making waste,
certainly not any time
soon. What we CAN do is
stop wasting those same
materials, once we are done
using them.
A
"circular economy" is a
mash-up of common sense
practice. The harvest is
connected to the market,
the market is connected to
the dinner table, the
dinner table is connected
to the slop bucket, the
slop is dumped into the
digester … and the digester
powers the market, while
it's residual goes back out
into the field. We're not
just focused on the
"biogenic fraction", that
organic goop: now we need
to think about that plastic
waste, what becomes of the
hard-to-make polymers, how
we can pull the chemistry
of waste apart and remake
things we actually
do need.
Since
transport uses fuel and
fuel costs money, the next
trick is to spin that
circular economy wheel as
close to home as possible,
what some call
"localizing". Draw a ring
around a city, oh, say one
hundred miles from a
centrally-located Waste to
Products conversion
complex. Step off fifty
miles all around the center
and set up transfer
stations in a "hub and
spoke" model that take care
of the first stage of
gathering and cleaning. Use
10 - 20% of the collected
stuff to power the lights
and fuel the fork-lifts at
the remote hubs, and send
the rest of the crud on
down the hill. Head north a
couple hundred miles and
set up another network, and
then find yet another site
somewhere at least a
hundred miles south of the
first complex. There!
You've just figured out how
to absorb and convert all
the waste within a six
hundred mile swath, run it
through a variety of
conversion tools and turn
it into raw materials. Gee,
that wasn’t' so hard, now,
was it?
Hey
Rube!
A cheap and easy way to keep up
to speed in this rapidly
changing waste to energy world
is to sign up for (and actually
sit through) a select few of
the myriad of free webinars
available. The DOE has a
constant series running; there
has been a lot of recent focus
on combined heat and power and
on anaerobic digestion. It is
worth knowing that when folks
are tapped by the DOE to
present on such topics, they
are usually VERY well versed in
the subject, and are also
relatively open to follow-up
conversations. Enjoy the
webinars, but also think of
them as a free federal vetting
service, identifying accessible
national
specialists.
The
Week's News
CAPCOA
Releases Report on
"California's Progress
Toward Clean
Air
The California Air Pollution
Control Officer's Association
(CAPCOA) has announced the
release of its 2012 wrap-up
report, "California's Progress
Toward Clean Air." With
thirty-five local air quality
agencies scattered across
California, this report
provides a glimpse of
activities, successes, and
challenges in improving each
region's air quality.
04/14/2013
Indiana
Biomass Energy Working Group
Hosts Session on Culver Duck
Digester
The Indiana Biomass Energy
Working Group has scheduled a
day-long working session and
site tour on April 23, 2013
focused on the $4 million
anaerobic combined heat and
power (CHP) installation at the
Culver Duck poultry processing
plant just outside of
Middlebury.
04/14/2013
Bangalore
Market Plans Anaerobic
Digestion Plant for Waste to
Energy
The Russell Market Vendors
Association has reported that
its 480 shop owner members have
decided to cooperatively
develop an anaerobic digestion
system for conversion of the
Bangalore market's organic
wastes to power.
04/12/2013
DOE Webinar:
Community Scale Anaerobic
Digester Success
Stories
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) will present a free
webinar addressing Community
Scale Anaerobic Digesters on
April 16, 2013, and featuring
two presentations.
04/12/2013
IBI
Publishes Biochar Standards
Version 1.1, Plans
Certification
Program
The International Biochar
Initiative (IBI) has announced
publication of Version 1.1 of
its Biochar Standards.
04/11/2013
2OC Secures
£200MM Integrated Bioenergy
CHiP Contract with Thames
Water
Based in the United Kingdom
(UK), the firm 2OC has
announced signing a £200
million, 20 year contract to
provide renewable heat and
power to Thames Water, the UK's
largest wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP).
04/10/2013
ETI
Short-lists 3 Gasification
WtE Companies in £2.8MM Demo
Competition
The United Kingdom (UK) based
Energy Technologies Institute
(ETI) has announced selection
of the top three proposals in a
£2.8 million competition to
design the most economical,
efficient, and commercially
viable gasification waste to
energy demonstration pilot
plant..
04/10/2013
Waste2Tricity
Enters Concept Design Phase
for Plasma Waste to Energy
Plant
The United Kingdom (UK) based
Waste2Tricity (W2T) has
announced the start of a
concept design study for the
development of a plasma
gasification waste to energy
plant.
04/10/2013
CPF to Start
Up 10 Bioenergy/Biofuels
Plants in 2013 for Energy
from
Waste
Thailand based Charoen Pokphand
Foods PCL (CPF) is on schedule
to start up six biogas plants,
three cogeneration facilities,
and a biodiesel production unit
in 2013, having invested nearly
1 billion baht (about $34
million) according to the
Bangkok Post News.
04/09/2013
State of
Hawaii Awards $200K to
BioTork - USDA Waste to
Biofuel
Project
Hawaii's Governor Neil
Abercrombie's office has
announced an award of $200,000
to the biofuels collaboration
of the Florida-based company
BioTork LLC and the USDA
Pacific Basin Agricultural
Research Center (PBARC) to help
support the Hilo center's zero
waste biofuel and high protein
animal feed project.
04/09/2013
DOE Webinar
on Texas CHP Siting,
Permitting, Interconnection
Requirements
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) Gulf Coast Clean Energy
Application Center (GC CEAC)
has announced that registration
is now open for an April 30,
2013 webinar addressing
requirements for siting,
permitting, and interconnecting
combined heat and power (CHP)
projects in Texas.
04/09/2013
Eco
Sustainable Solutions Wins
AD Output Award with Weltec
Biopower
Plant
German company Weltec Biopower
has announced that their United
Kingdom (UK) based client Eco
Sustainable Solutions Ltd (Eco)
received top recognition for
"AD Output" during the REA
Organics Recycling Awards held
on March 21, 2013 in
Oxfordshire.
04/09/2013
Biome
Receives £150K Grant for
Conversion of Lignin to
Bioplastics
The United Kingdom (UK) based
Biome Technologies subsidiary
Biome Bioplastics Ltd has
announced receipt of an award
of £150,000 ($228,456) to
commercialize a microbial
pathway for conversion of
lignin to bioplastics.
04/08/2013
Abengoa
Launches MSW to BioFuels
Demonstration Plant in
Spain
International energy and fuels
company Abengoa has announced
the launch of its first large
scale demonstration of biofuel
production from municipal solid
waste (MSW). The facility has a
capacity to treat 25,000 tons
of municipal solid waste (MSW),
from which up to 1.5 million
liters of bioethanol will be
produced for use as fuel.
04/08/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
04/19/2013: Project Concepts
to Nepal Waste to Energy
Bazaar
The Government of Nepal's
Alternative Energy Promotion
Center (AEPC) has announced a
competitive solicitation for
rural renewable and alternative
energy development concepts,
and launched Nepal Renewable
Energy - Waste to Energy
(W2E) Bazaar 2013
to
promote rural renewable
energy development.
04/08/2013
Due
05/31/2013: Grant
Applications to CEC for
Commercial Biofuels
Facilities
The California Energy
Commission's (CEC)
Alternative and Renewable
Fuel and Vehicle Technology
Program (ARFVTP) has
released a Program Opportunity
Notice (PON-13-601) seeking
applications for grant funding
for Commercial Scale
Advanced Biofuels Production
Facilities.
04/11/2013
|